.30-06 loads

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Joined

Nov 6, 2009

Messages

21

I am new here and I tried searching for ".30-06" and nothing came back. I thought it was odd. So, I am sorry if I am going over old material. I have a Savage .30-06 22" factory barrel and I am loading for a whitetail hunt. I have shot 1.5" groups at 200yds with 168 Bergers and 57 grns Imr4350. These were shot on the ground with a bipod....I think I could continue to improve them but I am running out of Bergers and Imr4350. I would like to try the ladder method I saw in the tech article section. Anyhow, Bergers and Imr4350 are a pain to get around here. I was wondering if anybody had the miracle load for me jk. I would appreciate hearing about your loads. I do have some h414 and 168 AMAXs. Oh yea I can't find any FED210s either, I have Win wlrs. Any help would be great.
Thanks,
Chris

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Joined

Mar 29, 2007

Messages

430

You're sitting on the miracle load: somebody's 4350, 57 to 58.5 gr., and a 165 gr. spitzer. Pick a cheaper spitzer for development. Get your distance from the lands, and replicate that for the Berger. Then fine tune the powder charge to the Berger if you feel it's needed.

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Jul 24, 2009

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4

I have developed a load that works very well for me, but I use a 208 amax seated at 3.340 COAL sitting on 58-59g of RL 22. I use this as starting point for customer guns I build. In a nitrided 6 groove 22inch 10 twist McGowen barrel, it runs around 2800-2825 depending on temp outside. The rifle was built on a Howa action and the headspace is dead on minimum. The throat is fairly short with the reamer I use, and it seems to work very well. The customer is in Alaska so the temps there are very low and he has gone much hotter with the load with no pressure signs. He says the 59gr seems the sweet spot for velocity and accuracy for him, and it seems to work that way in most of them for me too. He is getting sub .25MOA consistent with this rifle and this load.

I know the 208 might seem like overkill for deer, but it will reach out a long long way if you need to. I plan to run a few 06s out to Thunder Valley and see how they do out to 1500 plus with this and the Load I worked up that HSM loads for me now.

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Joined

Nov 11, 2008

Messages

75

My pet load is 46.0 gr of RL 15 under 165 gr Sierra HPBT GameKing. I am starting to experiment with the higher end loads in the manual to get out a little further, but if you are shooting within 300-400 yds, the 46.0 is fine.

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Joined

Jul 16, 2008

Messages

279

I have been loading 168 grain Nosler BTs over 59 grains RL17 and 200 CCI primers. My oal is 3.41 and they group around 5/8" to 3/4" at 100 yards. The velocity is 3012 fps and the .490 BC of the Ballistic Tips should be a pretty good performer at range. Hope to verify that this season.

Member

I have developed a load that works very well for me, but I use a 208 amax seated at 3.340 COAL sitting on 58-59g of RL 22. I use this as starting point for customer guns I build. In a nitrided 6 groove 22inch 10 twist McGowen barrel, it runs around 2800-2825 depending on temp outside. The rifle was built on a Howa action and the headspace is dead on minimum. The throat is fairly short with the reamer I use, and it seems to work very well. The customer is in Alaska so the temps there are very low and he has gone much hotter with the load with no pressure signs. He says the 59gr seems the sweet spot for velocity and accuracy for him, and it seems to work that way in most of them for me too. He is getting sub .25MOA consistent with this rifle and this load.

I know the 208 might seem like overkill for deer, but it will reach out a long long way if you need to. I plan to run a few 06s out to Thunder Valley and see how they do out to 1500 plus with this and the Load I worked up that HSM loads for me now.

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Joined

Jul 24, 2009

Messages

4

Standard barrels without the Nitride do seem to run right at or just under 2700 with the factory loads that HSM puts out for me. I have twin rifles here in 30-06 so I will do a comparison some time soon with Nitrided vs Non Nitrided barrels, with that load and check the velocity on both to see what we get. On average the Nitride adds 100-150 FPS to a barrel with no other changes made. That is how we get the higher velocity with the same loads. I now do this to almost all the rifles I build and it is worth it, for the speed, longer barrel life, ease of cleaning, and most of all corrosion resistance. The rifles

I will test side by side are 1903A3 sporters with brand new 2 groove USGI barrels. I will use ammo from HSM from the same lot, and will test both the 208AMAX and 210 Berger VLD loads for you guys. Both barrels were chambered by me with the same reamer, and are remington 8-44 barrels cut and crowned to 23 inches by me. I used the one to kill a Bison last year, and a customer saw it and bought it for an upcoming hunt in Africa for plains game. The other his hunting buddy had me build for him to be a twin of the first. They are nail driving beasts that retain the classic smooth 1903 action and handle like a dream.

I will give a plug to HSM here, I used their basic 180gr SPBT ammo to take the bison, my dad took a hog with it, as did I, and also my brother. All the game has been One shot dead on the spot, no steps taken. The hogs were all shot heart lung, and just fell over dead, the bison was a head shot and just shut off like a switch. I want to say the 180 BTSP seems to be good solid inexpensive hunting ammo for off the shelf use. It shoots about 1/2MOA out of all my rifles that I have used it in. Per HSM its a Speer bullet, the basic Spitzer BTSP 180. It has a BC Of .54, so it should have decent legs for longer shots launching at 2750, but all mine have been under 200.

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